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Previous Volume 356:2713-2719 June 28, 2007 Number 26 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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Studies from more than six countries^{1,2,3,4,5,6,7} report a high prevalence of harmful medical errors. Most providers and patients realize that health care services are potentially hazardous and that errors sometimes occur despite the best efforts of people and institutions.⁸ Patients expect to be informed promptly when they are injured by care, especially care that has gone wrong.⁹ However, a divide between these expectations and actual clinical practice is increasingly evident.^8,9,10,11,12

Regulators, hospitals, accreditation organizations, and legislators in the United States and other countries are moving to bridge the gap by developing standards, programs, and laws that encourage transparent communication with . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Disclosure Standards

Legal Developments

Prominent Disclosure Programs

Future Developments

Source Information

From the Department of Medicine and the Department of Medical History and Ethics, University of Washington, Seattle (T.H.G.); the Melbourne Law School and the School of Population Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia (D.S.); and the University of Toronto, Toronto (W.L.).

Address reprint requests to Dr. Gallagher at the Department of Medicine, University of Washington, P.O. Box 354981, Seattle, WA 98105-4608, or at thomasg@u.washington.edu.

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